Unfortunately, I have a very personal reason for choosing the gambler’s fallacy as my next topic. I am experiencing the effects of this fallacy with someone close to me who is in the grips of a gambling addiction. For years, she has exhorted me that winning depends upon making large bets. She believes that betting… Continue reading →

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The slippery slope fallacy is another of those logical mistakes to which so many people fall prey. I’m sure you recognize it; it’s the idea that doing one thing will inevitably lead to doing something worse. It’s a common argument deployed for things like drug use, in which a drug like marijuana is labeled a… Continue reading →

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A few days ago I was in Staples buying some supplies for a new craft project, and the cashier inquired whether I had a Staples preferred customer card. When I answered in the negative, he asked if I wanted one. I declined. He persisted: “But our customers are so happy to be in our program!… Continue reading →

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It’s been a while since my last post, primarily because much of my attention has been focused on my other endeavor over at the Rock and Shell Club. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been nurturing several rants, large and small. I am occupied by the usual topics of critical thinking, the over-saturation of social… Continue reading →

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When I was at SDSU getting my MA, I had to write a paper for my graduate seminar in linguistic anthropology. I chose to write about the question of whether or not Neanderthals were capable of speech. In researching the topic (using the card catalog, books, and bound journal articles – yes, we had the… Continue reading →

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So-called pink slime has been all over the news lately. Friends have posted links and comments about it on Facebook, I have heard stories about it on NPR, and I’ve heard people talk about how they can’t believe our government would allow the meat industry to sell the stuff as food. Pink slime, known formally… Continue reading →

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Who is the Ranthropologist?

I am a classic four-field anthropologist, and I use my training to analyze and evaluate the world around me. I am a skeptic, a critical thinker, a professor, a reader, a writer, and a creator. My thoughts and observations often take the form of rants – hence, I am the Ranthropologist.